This invention relates to a detachable handle that facilitates use of a conventional hand-held computer such as a Personal Digital Assistant (xe2x80x9cPDAxe2x80x9d) or the like, and more particularly, to a cradle for operably receiving the hand-held computer having a joystick-type handle extending therefrom with a trigger to allow easy actuation of one or more functions on the hand-held computer.
Portable data entry devices are widely used in a variety of applications. For example, in a retail store, such as a grocery store or pharmacy, employees regularly use such devices to track inventory and validate or change prices. In particular, the employee usually travels throughout the store holding a portable bar-code scanning device or the like, and he or she operates the device to read codes on each product in the store. The information collected by the device is usually transmitted to a main computer for further processing. Depending on the particular task to be accomplished, the employees frequently hold and operate the device for hours.
Known portable bar-code scanners, commonly referred to in the industry as xe2x80x9cbricks on a stickxe2x80x9d, are expensive, large, relatively heavy devices that usually include a frame having a protruding handle with a trigger. The user operates these types of devices by holding it close to a product to be scanned, and depressing the trigger. However, the size and weight of these types of devices make them difficult to use for extended periods of time. Moreover, because of their weight, they tend to be dropped relatively frequently, leading to premature breakage of the devices. In cases, were the device breaks, whether it be the handle or the related computing electronics, the entire unit must be replaced or serviced, thereby increasing the expense of owning and using these types of devices.
More recently, some manufacturers of hand-held retail sales scanners have attempted to improve the ergonomic aspects of their scanners. For example, Symbol Corporation of San Jose, Calif. sells a variety of hand-held scanners designed to be held in the palm of the user""s hand. These designs include a substantially planar scanner having recesses for receiving the user""s fingers, and more ergonomically trigger actuated handles extending from the scanner. While these improved devices are lighter and easier to hold than their predecessors, they are still expensive, and they still require the entire unit to be replaced or serviced if an individual component becomes inoperative.
Recent advances in computer manufacturing have allowed a great deal of portable computing power to be placed into a relative compact, light weight, and economical hand-held unit. These hand-held computers include devices are commonly known by a variety of names including Personal Digital Assistants (xe2x80x9cPDA""sxe2x80x9d) (e.g., Palm Pilot, Visor, Jordana, and the like) and pocket PC""s. They perform a variety of functions, including computing, database management and storage, communication, and the like.
The popularity of these types of hand-held computers is increasing as the extent of their available applications increases. Several manufacturers of hand-held computers offer bar-code scanning devices that can either be detachably secured to the hand-held computer or are integral with the hand-held computer. However, information is typically entered into these types of hand-held computers through a keyboard or touch screen positioned on an upper surface of the device. This form of data entry requires a user to hold the computer while also entering the information. Accordingly, while these types of hand-held computers are affordable and lightweight, their known forms of data entry limit the usefulness of these types devices for some applications, such as using them as portable scanning devices as previously described.
Some inventors have had limited success with securing a miniature computer to a handle assembly. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,778 to Zousoulas et al., a substantially planar xe2x80x9cdata modulexe2x80x9d is pivotally secured to a c-shaped xe2x80x9cframe module,xe2x80x9d where the center of the c-shaped xe2x80x9cframe modulexe2x80x9d defines an elongate handle having a trigger for actuating the xe2x80x9cdata module.xe2x80x9d The elongate handle is aligned to one side and generally parallel with the plane of the xe2x80x9cdata module.xe2x80x9d As a result, the weight of the xe2x80x9cdata modulexe2x80x9d is not centered on the handle. Rather, a user holding the handle continuously feels a torque on the handle that must continuously be resisted to maintain the assembly in a functional position. Over time, maintaining this continuous resistance unduly fatigues the user. Moreover, these types of devices are not well adapted to allow a conventional hand-held computer such as a palm-pilot, to be quickly and easily secured to and removed from the handle assembly.
Accordingly, despite the available improvements offered by traditional hand-held scanners, hand-held computers, and related cradles for accepting hand-held computers, there remains a need for a lightweight, economical, and well balanced joy stick-style handle assembly that may be detachably secured to a traditional hand-held computer to facilitate data entry such as scanning operations. In addition to other benefits that will become apparent in the following disclosure, the present invention fulfills these needs.
The present invention is hand-held computer handle that may be detachable secured to a conventional hand-held computer. The handle preferably includes a substantially planar hand-held computer-mounting portion with an ergonomically-shaped joystick-style handle portion extending orthogonally therefrom. The handle portion includes a trigger in electrical communication with the hand-held computer such that one or more functions of the hand-held computer can be controlled by actuation of the trigger. In a preferred embodiment, the hand-held computer includes a conventional scanner or other data reader thereon, and the trigger on the handle portion activates the scanner.
Preferably, the handle portion is aligned with the center of gravity of the handle and hand-held computer, thereby avoiding any torque created by positioning the hand-held computer off-enter on the handle. More preferably, the forward and backward and side-to-side position and angle of the handle portion with respect to the computer-mounting portion is adjustable thereby allowing a user to individually adjust the position of the handle to their particular needs.
In a preferred embodiment, the handle is sized to receive a conventional off-the-shelf hand-held computer, and it includes conventional connectivity jacks in electrical communication with the hand-held computer to facilitate charging of the hand-held computer and/or data transmittal and exchange between the hand-held computer and another computer system.